It was thanks to that last race that Nico claimed the newly introduced national title of 'Grandmaster middle distance'.

Winner of Grandmaster Middle Distance

Nico has won quite a few prizes in his favourite middle distance races. As a result, fanciers will often see him as one of the main favourites if a new competition is being launched in the middle distance. And Nico could not have hoped for a better 2017 season: he was in fact crowned the winner of this very competition: he claims the very first title of Grandmaster in the Middle Distance, which is yet another title on his already impressive middle distance palmares. We reckon you are particularly interested in how Nico was able to win this prize. This title is based around the achievements of your team as a whole, taking into account the total amount of points won by your race winning pigeons, divided by the number of pigeons basketed for the race. Nico's best result came in the race from Roye (277km), where he was able to win 10 prizes with 10 pigeons. In fact, all pigeons had made it back home and were clocked within 6.5 minutes, despite losing some time at the loft. The 10 pigeons basketed for Roye in Entente South-Holland East of 1493 pigeons claimed a 3–10–19–21–28–30–63–88–117-120, and in Rayon East of Province 5 they claimed a 4-43-81-84-etc. against 7,303 pigeons. It was thanks to this fantastic result that Nico was able to claim this new title. Here are the final results:

Final results top ten Grandmasters in the Middle Distance

Rank

Name

Location

Province

Pigeons / prizes

Points

1

Nico van Noordenne

H’veld-Giessendam

5

10 and 10

869.251

2

Hok Huijsmans

Hoogerheide

2

16 and 16

865.320

3

Comb. Huisman

IJsselmuiden

8

20 and 19

843.722

4

G. en H. Calis

Bussum

7

20 and 20

804.394

5

A.A. Jurriens

Zutphen

8

13 and 12

768.597

6

Seinstra/Terpstra

Mûnein

11

10 and 9

768.518

7

Wulf van Laar

Elst

8

13 and 13

764.038

8

Wouter Sibma

Giekerk

11

10 and 10

746.065

9

Math Nooijen

Reuver

4

10 and 10

731.395

10

H. van der Haar

Genemuiden

8

12 and 11

723.935

A fresh start after a successful sale

Nico sold all the pigeons born between 2009 and 2014, including his entire racing team, on PIPA in 2015. The auction was a great success but it also led to him starting the 2016 season with an entirely new racing team. This consisted mainly of racing cocks, since this is what suits him best, and he thinks this is the easiest of the two as well. His favourite competition is the sprint and the middle distance. In 2016 he competed in the old birds' races with his one year old cocks. The young birds were raced just a few times, due to a coli outbreak. The youngsters were eventually raced a few times later in the season.

Nico started the 2017 season with about 10 widowers from 2015, and about 10 racing cocks from 2016. You can tell from his palmares that this should not keep you from getting great results. Unfortunately he quickly lost some of his less experienced yearlings in the sprint, forcing him to basket just 10 to 15 pigeons in the middle distance races. It was with this select group of pigeons, which were heavily based around the descendants of his renowned Torero, that he was able to get some great results almost every week. As a result, Nico won the title of 1st ace pigeon sprint and 1st ace pigeon middle distance in his union, which comprises 38 racing lofts. His cocks also won a 2nd, 3rd and 4th prize in union's ace pigeon championship old birds, without even completing a single one day long distance race. It is worth noting that almost all of his best old birds are either grandchildren or great-grandchildren of his champion Torero, 1st National Ace Pigeon Middle Distance 2004. We take a closer look at a few of his best pigeons.

Speedy, 1st ace pigeon sprint

Speedy, 1st ace pigeon sprint

Speedy is a son of breeding pair Limited Edition x Latina 061. Racing bird NL12-1632066 Limited Edition became 1st Ace Pigeon Middle Distance 2013 in Entente ZH-East as a one year old, and in 2015 he claimed another ace pigeon title middle distance in the union. Latina 061 is a granddaughter of Torero. Click here for Speedy's full pedigree.

Gipsy Rhythm, 1st ace pigeon middle distance

Gipsy Rhythm, 1e asduif Midfond

Gipsy Rhythm became 1st ace pigeon middle distance in Entente ZH-East. He won several first prizes, including:

The sire of Gipsy Rhythm is Torres, a son of top breeder Torero. Torres claimed a title of 1st Ace Pigeon Overall olds in Entente ZH-East Rayon A in 2010. The dam of Gipsy Rhythm is Super 45, a pure Ludo Claessens pigeon. The impressive pedigree of Gipsy Rhythm can be seen here.

The references of 2017

Frenchman Martial Maindrelle has been getting great results in recent years with pigeons of Nico, with even an Olympiad nomination for team Maindrelle: his Olympic Nico was selected for an international event to represent France for the third time in 2017. Have a look at this pigeon's impressive achievements below. The sire of Olympic Nico was purchased on PIPA, and he comes from a son of Torero. A half sister of this Olympic Nico was in fact the best hen of Martial Maindrelle in 2017. Nico and Martial have become close friends, and they exchange a number of pigeons every season as well. Both have been very satisfied with each other's birds.

Olympic Nico

In late 2016 Martial competed in a one loft race for the first time: the Algarve Golden Race in Portugal. He claimed a second prize in the final against 3644 pigeons, winning 40,000 EURO worth of prize money. The dam of this pigeon is a direct Torero x Witje 975, two of Nico's best breeders. You can find out more about them here:

Torero, top breeder for Nico van Noordenne

Witje, top class breedingd hen Nico van Noordenne

Another important reference comes from Frank Schlechtriem from Germany, whose Olympic Vonn was sent to the 2017 Olympiad in Germany. The sire of Olympic Vonn was purchased on PIPA, and comes directly from two Bosua pigeons of Nick. Frank Schlechtriem has just two Van Noordenne pigeons in his collection, and the other of the two has actually bred an Olympiad Pigeon as well. The dam of this second bird comes from Torero.

Olympic Nico

Next up is a reference from G. & H. Calis from Bussum, the combination that claimed a title of 1st Ace Pigeon general in Province 7 in 2017. The sire of this pigeon was obtained on PIPA, and comes from Torero!

Leo Baardman from Hardinxveld-Giessendam (NL) claimed a 7th and 16th NPO Morlincourt of 7,167 pigeons with 2 grandchildren of Torero. The Torero bloodline has been mentioned so many times now, that we really should take another look at his pedigree: Torero's pedigree.

The descendants of Nico's pigeons are doing great in several one loft races as well. Team Mojo from Norway claimed a 3rd prize in the final and a title of 2nd ace pigeon in the DAPIrace in Denmark. The dam of this pigeon comes straight from Nico's collection, bred from 261 Son Winner x Red Atomic.

And we have another Norwegian reference with Martin Saevareid, winner of the final of the FCI Mira one loft race in Portugal, and winner of a first prize and 24,000 EURO. One of the grandmothers of this pigeon is a daughter of No Limit, another grandmother is a half sister of that same No Limit. Click here for No Limit's pedigree.

Lars & Tom Corneliussen from Norway were successful in this race as well: they win the FCI World Championship 2017 in Mira, and the grandfather of this pigeon comes from a son of Nico's Kasai Kid.

Looking towards 2018

Nico starts the 2018 racing season with no more than 26 widowers divided ofter three sections, and he will be breeding 50 to 60 youngsters for his own collecion. Just like in 3017, Nico will be trading 8 youngsters with Martial Maindrelle (Aviator's Loft) from France. Like we said earlier, Martial has been very satisfied with Nico's pigeons, and so the two agreed to exchange a few pigeons. Nico in turn has been very happy with the Maindrelle pigeons as well, he even told us he is quite impressed with them. Nico van Noordenne is clearly back on track, and he is determined to regain his place as one of the strongest fanciers in The Netherlands. The title of Grandmaster in the Middle Distance is his first major achievement, and we all look forward to what 2018 has in store for him.